A STATION WAGON, also called an ESTATE CAR, ESTATE WAGON, or simply
WAGON or ESTATE, is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon
with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume
with access at the back via a third or fifth door (the liftgate or
tailgate ), instead of a trunk lid. The body style transforms a
standard three-box design into a two-box design — to include an A,
B, and C-pillar , as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly
reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to
prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.

The
American Heritage Dictionary defines a station wagon as "an
automobile with one or more rows of folding or removable seats behind
the driver and no luggage compartment but an area behind the seats
into which suitcases, parcels, etc., can be loaded through a
tailgate."

When a model range includes multiple body styles, such as sedan,
hatchback and station wagon, the models typically share their platform
, drivetrain and bodywork forward of the A-pillar. In 1969, Popular
Mechanics said, "Station wagon-style ... follows that of the
production sedan of which it is the counterpart. Most are on the same
wheelbase, offer the same transmission and engine options, and the
same comfort and convenience options."

Station wagons have evolved from their early use as specialized
vehicles to carry people and luggage to and from a train station, and
have been marketed worldwide.

Station wagonStation wagon and wagon are the common names in American , Canadian ,
New Zealand , Australian and African English, while estate car and
estate are common in the rest of the English-speaking world. Both
names harken to the car's role as a shuttle, with storage space for
baggage, between country estates and train stations .

Having shared antecedents with the British shooting-brake (originally
a wooden-bodied vehicle used to carry shooting parties with their
equipment and game), station wagons have been marketed as BREAKS,
using the French term (which is sometimes given fully as BREAK DE
CHASSE, literally "hunting break)." Early U.S. models often had
exposed wooden bodies and were therefore called woodies .

Typical pillar configurations of a sedan (three box) , station
wagon (two box) and hatchback (two box) from the same model range .

Both station wagons and hatchbacks typically share a two-box design
configuration, with one shared, flexible, interior volume for
passengers and cargo — and a rear door for cargo access. Further
distinctions are highly variable:

The first station wagons were a product of the age of train travel.
They were originally called "depot hacks" because they worked around
train depots as hacks (short for hackney carriage , an old name for
taxis ). They also came to be known as "carryalls" and "suburbans".

Before the 1930s, manufacturers assembled the framing of passenger
compartments of passenger vehicles in hardwood. In automobiles, the
framing was sheathed in steel and coated with colored lacquer for
protection. Eventually, all-steel bodies were adopted because of their
strength, cost, and durability.

Early station wagons evolved from trucks and were viewed as
commercial vehicles (along with vans and pickup trucks ), not consumer
automobiles—with the framing of the early station wagons left
unsheathed because of the commercial nature of the vehicles. This
would be reflected on those vehicles registrations--
PennsylvaniaPennsylvania , for
instance, issued special "Suburban" license plates well into the
1960s, long after station wagons became car-based. Early station
wagons were fixed roof vehicles, but lacked the glass that would
normally enclose the passenger compartment, and had only bench seats.
In lieu of glass, side curtains of canvas could be unrolled. More
rigid curtains could be snapped in place to protect passengers from
the elements outside.

In 1922 Essex introduced the first affordable enclosed automobile
(sedan ), which shifted the auto industry away from open vehicles to
meet consumer demand for enclosed automobiles.

Initially, manufacture of the wagon's passenger compartments was
outsourced to custom body builders because the production of the
all-wood bodies was very time consuming. Major producers of
wood-bodied station wagons included Mitchell Bentley, Hercules, USB&F,
Cantrell, and other custom builders. The roofs of "woodie" wagons were
usually made of stretched canvas that was treated with a waterproofing
dressing.

In 1919, the Stoughton Wagon Company of Stoughton, Wisconsin, had
begun putting custom wagon bodies on Model T chassis. By 1929 Ford
was by far the biggest seller of station wagons. Since Ford owned its
own hardwood forest and mills, at the
Ford Iron Mountain Plant in the
Michigan Upper Peninsula, it began supplying the wood components for
the Model A wagon (although initially some final assembly still took
place away from the factory, by Briggs, in Detroit, with wood from the
Mengel Company in
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky ). The same year, J. T.
Cantrell provided woodie bodies for
ChryslerChrysler vehicles until 1931.

Eventually, the car companies began producing their own station
wagons. In 1923 Star (a division of
Durant Motors ) became the first
car company to offer a station wagon assembled on its production line
(using a wooden wagon body shipped in from an outside supplier.)

By the mid-1930s, wood-bodied station wagons had some prestige. They
were priced higher than regular cars and were popular in affluent
communities. When it was introduced in 1941 the
ChryslerChrysler Town bolts
and screws required periodic tightening as wood expanded and
contracted through the seasons. In 1935,
General MotorsGeneral Motors introduced a
steel-bodied eight-seat Suburban wagon, based on the
ChevroletChevrolet truck.

The popularity of woodies was renewed, in the surfing culture, during
the 1950s and 1960s.

After World War II, automobile production resumed, with prewar
tooling. New advances in production techniques made all-steel station
wagon bodies more practical, eliminating the cost, noise, and
maintenance associated with wood bodies.

The first factory-built all-steel station wagon in North America was
the 1946 Jeep Station Wagon, based on the Jeep produced by
Willys-Overland during World War II. Willys offered a trim level,
evoking earlier wood bodywork, rendered instead in paint and trim
work. In 1935,
ChevroletChevrolet introduced the Chevy Suburban, with an
all-steel station-wagon body on a commercial-truck chassis. In 1947,
CrosleyCrosley introduced an all-steel, car-based wagon in Europe.

In 1949, Plymouth introduced the first all-steel station wagon in the
U.S., the two-door Suburban, based on an automobile platform . In 1950
Plymouth discontinued the woodie station wagon, converting to all
steel bodywork.
BuickBuick discontinued production of the last North
American wood bodywork after the 1953 model year . Morris of England
continued to market its
Morris MinorMorris Minor Traveller until the late 1960s.

During the mid-1950s real wood accents replaced all wood sides, and
by the late 1950s, the accents had been reduced to being simulated
wood as durable, automotive-grade vinyl graphic appliqués were
introduced in the mid-1950. For example, only the very first Ford
Country Squire had real wood accents, most were built with simulated
woodgrain paneling. By 1955, only Ford and Mercury offered a woodie
model, accomplishing the simulation of wood with other materials,
e.g., steel, plastics and
DI-NOC (a vinyl product).

The
Ford Country Sedan was actually a station wagon, they called it a
sedan to highlight it was for personal ownership rather than taxi or
other commercial use,as historically station wagons were for taxi
style or hire car, hotel convenience vehicle, etc. services.

Ford was undoubtedly the most known for the use of woodgrain
appliques on its vehicles. In addition to the well-known Country
Squire , the "Squire" trim level was an available option in a few
different model ranges . These include the Falcon Squire , Fairlane
Squire , and in the 1970s the Pinto Squire . Surviving examples of
these smaller "Squire" wagons are much rarer than the more popular
full-size Country Squire, which was ordered and produced in much
higher quantities. The Squire was always the highest trim level of any
Ford Wagon and included the signature woodgrain applique, and usually
additional exterior chrome, nicer interior trim, special emblems, etc.
Other manufacturers marketed wagons and minivans with simulated wood
from the mid-1950s through the early 1990s. The most notable of these
are the
ChryslerChrysler Town
ChryslerChrysler entered the market in 1960. The
pillarless designs could be expensive to produce, added wind noise,
and created structural issues with body torque. GM eliminated the
hardtop wagon from its lineup in 1959, and AMC and Ford exited the
field beginning with their 1960 and 1961 vehicles, leaving Chrysler
and Dodge with the body style through the 1964 model year.

Traditionally, full-sized American station wagons were configured for
six or nine passengers. The basic arrangement for seating six was
three passengers in the front and three passengers in the rear, all on
bench-type seats; to accommodate nine, a third bench seat was
installed in the rear cargo area, over the rear axle. Through 1956,
all wagons had the third row facing forward, but Chrysler's 1957
models had a roof too low to permit a forward-facing seat installed
over the axle, so it was turned around and placed behind the axle. GM
wagons would adopt the rear-facing third row with 1959 models until
1971, and again in 1977.

In full-size Ford and Mercury wagons built after 1964, the
configuration was two seats facing each other, placed behind the rear
axle. According to Ford, each seat would accommodate two people,
raising the total seating capacity to ten passengers; however, these
seats were quite narrow in later models and could accommodate only one
passenger, limiting the total capacity to eight passengers.

The 1964–1972
Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and 1964–1969
BuickBuick Sport
Wagon featured raised rooflines beginning above the second-row seat
and continuing all the way to the rear tailgate. Above the second seat
were acrylic glass skylights in which passengers could view the
outside from overhead. On the three-seat models of these wagons, the
third seat faced forward as did the first and second seats. Later, the
1971–1976 full-size "clamshell" wagons used a similar raised roof to
provide adequate headroom for a forward-facing third row, but without
the skylights.

Recent models of station wagons are usually built on smaller
platforms and accommodate five or six passengers (depending on whether
bucket or bench seats are fitted in front) in two rows of seating. The
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz E-Class Estate, a mid-sized station wagon, has an
optional rear-facing jump seat for two passengers in the cargo area.

In 1951, the compact 100-inch (2,540 mm) wheelbase
Nash RamblerNash Rambler line
included a two-door station wagon design whose production continued
through 1955. After the merger of Nash and Hudson , the new company,
American Motors (AMC) reintroduced the two-door wagon in the "new"
Rambler AmericanRambler American line in 1959 with only a few modifications from the
original version. This was a car targeting buyers looking for economy
and load space, as well as a strategy of reintroducing an old design.
This two distinct model run was a successful business decision that is
almost unheard of in automobile history.

The 1955–1957
ChevroletChevrolet Nomad (now a valuable collector car ) and
sibling
Pontiac Safari were two-door station wagons, competing with
the 1957–58 model years-produced
Ford Del Rio two-door wagon.
Mercury produced a two-door hardtop (no "B-pillar") station wagon from
1957 to 1960, named the Commuter .
ChevroletChevrolet produced the 1964–1965
Chevelle 300 series two-door station wagon.

In 1961
VolkswagenVolkswagen introduced the Type 3 (also known in various
markets as the Variant and the
VolkswagenVolkswagen 1500 (later the Volkswagen
1600)), available as a two-door sedan and as a two-door station wagon,
which was commonly called the Squareback. VW's then-typical
rear-engine layout was retained for the Type 3, but the engine profile
was flattened, resulting in a small car offering interior room, as
well as trunk space in the front. The model was offered through the
1973 model year.

The 1970s were a high point for two-door wagons in the U.S. as GM ,
Ford, and AMC fielded examples in their subcompact car lines.

The
ChevroletChevrolet Vega Kammback, introduced in September 1970, was the
first U.S.-made four-passenger wagon and the first two-door wagon from
GM in six years. It shared its wheelbase and length with Vega coupe
versions and was produced in the 1971–1977 model years. The Pontiac
Astre Safari wagon is a Pontiac rebadged Vega that was introduced in
the U.S for the 1975 model year . The
ChevroletChevrolet Monza and Pontiac
Sunbird Safari wagons replaced the Vega and Astre respectively.
Retaining the Vega wagon body, they were produced for the 1978 and
1979 models years with Pontiac and
BuickBuick engines.

In the United Kingdom, estate car versions of small and middle sized
models were more common. The estate ("Traveller") versions of the
Morris 1000 ("Minor") and
MiniMini , with external ash wood frames
(structural on the 1000); had two vertically divided van-type rear
doors in the style of older shooting-brakes (see "station wagons
around the world ", below). The
Hillman Husky estate version of the
Hillman Imp was unusual in being a rear-engined estate. Other two-door
station wagons in Europe included the Ford Escort ,
Morris 1100 ,
Vauxhall Viva ,
Vauxhall Chevette ,
Fiat 127 , and
Saab 95 .

A former East German car fleet made uniformly of Trabants and
Wartburgs had a distinct luxurious version of 2-doors estate coupe
Trabant 601 Estate with an extra C-column far back to extend the rear
compartment of the car. This version had a full scale liftgate
allowing to access the entire rear room of nearly 1000 l with rear
seats folded.

POPULARITY IN NORTH AMERICA

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Since the 1970s, sales of station wagons in the United States and
Canada dropped for several reasons. The
1973 oil crisis1973 oil crisis was a turning
point against the "traditional classic American station wagon—with
its acres of fake woodgrain siding, sticky vinyl bench seats and
lazy-revving V-8 engine", which have been described as "wallowing land
arks". The 1983 film National Lampoon\'s Vacation parodied the
styling cues of 1970s station wagons with its garish Wagon Queen
Family Truckster .

In 1984
ChryslerChrysler introduced the
ChryslerChrysler minivans derived from the K
platform . While the K platform was also used for the Plymouth Reliant
and
Dodge Aries station wagon models, the minivan would soon eclipse
them in popularity. Since minivans and SUVs are classified as light
trucks under US
CAFE standards , manufacturers had a strong incentive
to market those vehicles over station wagons, which are classified as
cars. Station wagons have remained popular in Europe and other
locations whose emissions and efficiency regulations do not
distinguish between cars and light trucks.

The emergence and popularity of sport utility vehicles which closely
approximate the traditional wagon bodystyle was a further blow. After
struggling sales, the
ChevroletChevrolet Caprice and the
BuickBuick Roadmaster , the
last American full size wagons, were discontinued in 1996. The Ford
Taurus wagon was discontinued after the 2005 model year. The Dodge
Magnum was marketed during the 2005–2008 model years.

Since then, smaller wagons have been sold in the U.S. as less
expensive alternatives to SUVs and minivans. Domestic wagons also
remained in the Ford, Mercury, and Saturn lines until 2004 when the
bodies began a phase-out, replaced by car-based crossover SUVs and
minivans designed to look like station wagons.

SubaruSubaru has been a notable exception to the rule, offering full-size
Legacy and Outback station wagon models in the United States and
worldwide consistently from 1994 to the present. These models continue
to be produced at the
SubaruSubaru of Indiana plant in Lafayette.

The last subcompact station wagon produced in the United States and
Canada was the 1992
Toyota CorollaToyota Corolla . Compact station wagons have been
declining since the 2000s. Ford dropped the
Ford FocusFord Focus ZXW wagon after
its 2007 model year, and
SubaruSubaru replaced the
SubaruSubaru Impreza wagon with
a 5-door hatchback model.
VolvoVolvo announced that they will withdraw
their compact station wagon, the
VolvoVolvo V50 , from the U.S market in
2012 due to poor sales figures. In Europe the V50 remains popular.
The VW Golf Sportwagen is Volkswagen\'s mid-2015 attempt to rectify
the absence of a subcompact wagon from any manufacturer in the North
American market.

European luxury carmakers such as Audi,
BMWBMW , and Mercedes-Benz
continued to offer wagons in their North American lineup, using the
labels "Avant", "Touring", and "Estate" instead of wagon. However,
these wagons had fewer trim and powertrain levels than their sedan
counterparts, for instance the wagon styles of high-performance trims
such as the
BMWBMW M5 and
AudiAudi RS6 were never imported to North America.
The
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz E63 AMG in Estate trim is the sole performance wagon
offered in the U.S. market. The
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz W204 wagon was not
offered in the United States and Canada unlike the previous
generation. The
BMWBMW 5 Series Touring was dropped from BMW's North
American lineup after the conclusion of the E60 generation, due to
slow sales in the United States with only 400 wagons sold in 2009.
Due to the popularity of SUVs in North America, these European
manufacturers have been supplanting their wagons with car-based
crossovers such as the
BMWBMW Sports Activity Series , the
AudiAudi Q5 , and
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz M-Class , with these models offering a wider range of
options and engines than wagons.

However, the
Cadillac CTS gave rise to its wagon counterpart, the
2010 CTS Sportwagon. Unlike European luxury wagons sold in North
America, the CTS Sportwagon has almost as many trim levels as its
sedan counterpart. The CTS wagon was discontinued in 2014.

Although station wagons have declined in North America, they offer
several advantages over car-based crossovers. Wagons offer cargo space
without compromising driving dynamics or radically increasing weight.
The high fuel prices in Europe and Japan have led to nearly half of
all production vehicles being wagons. There have been attempts at
starting new wagon models in the US. Cadillac's 2009 CTS Sport Wagon,
Acura's 2011 TSX Sport Wagon, are two examples of wagons available in
the North American marketplace that have been discontinued in recent
years.
VolvoVolvo reintroduced a large wagon to the market with the 2016
V90, but in the United States, the V90 will only be available by
special order

European manufacturers often built two-door station wagons in the
post-war period for the compact class, a practice that continued at
Ford (amongst others) with its Escort Mark III well into the 1980s. By
that time, manufacturers developed four-door models. In Europe, these
vehicles remain popular and in volume production, although minivans
(known in Europe as MPVs—multi-purpose vehicles) and the like have
expanded into this market segment. As in North America, early station
wagons were aftermarket conversions and had their new bodywork built
with a wooden frame, sometimes with wooden panels, sometimes steel.
Station wagons were the originators of fold down seats to accommodate
passengers or cargo.

Station wagons are generally called estate cars or simply estates in
the United Kingdom. The term shooting-brake , a term for an original
hunting vehicle, came to be known synonymously with station wagon and
were also custom built as modified luxury coupés with an estate
car-like back. They generally retain two side doors. Until the early
1960s many of them were built with structural wooden rear frames,
making them some of the most expensive and luxurious "woodies" ever
built.

Most small cars produced in the UK from the 1950s until the 1980s had
Estate versions, some of which were also used as small delivery vans
minus the rear windows. By the mid-1950s most British car
manufacturers offered at least one estate model. Manufacturers often
chose a specific model name to apply to all their estate cars as a
marketing exercise – for example Austin used the Countryman name and
Morris estates were called Travellers. The famous wood-framed Morris
Minor Traveller was produced from 1952 to 1971 and larger Morris
Oxford Travellers were produced during the same time, initially also
with wood-framed bodies but in five-door all-steel form from 1957.
Some British estate cars were closely derived from existing commercial
van models – such as the Austin A30/35 Countryman and the Hillman
Husky while the Morris Travellers, the
Austin Cambridge Countryman and
the
Standard Ten Companion were bespoke. One of the smallest estate
cars ever made was the two-door Countryman/Traveller version of the
MiniMini , initially available with or without (purely cosmetic) wood
framing for the rear body – an option that was dropped in 1970 when
the model was revised to become the more upmarket
MiniMini Clubman Estate,
which stayed in production until 1980.

Despite the popularity of station wagons in America, the two
U.S.-owned manufacturers present in the UK (Ford and Vauxhall ) were
both relative latecomers to the estate car market, but the Ford Consul
and
Vauxhall Cresta were available as estates via factory-approved
conversions from specialist coachbuilders such as Friary and Farnham .
Australian
Ford BF FalconFord BF Falcon station wagon

Rover and Austin produced 4×4 canvas-topped utility vehicles in the
1950s that were available in estate car body styles that were sold as
"Station Wagons". They incorporated better seating and trim than
standard editions with options such as heaters. Early advertising for
the
Land RoverLand Rover version took the name literally, showing the vehicle
collecting people and goods from a railway station .

Germany is the largest market for station wagons in the world. Some
600 to 700,000 vehicles are sold each year, amounting to some 20% of
all car sales. The German language generally describes station wagons
as Kombinationskraftwagen ("combination motor vehicle") or Kombi for
short. During the 1980s
VolkswagenVolkswagen Polo crossed car categories by
offering a two-door station wagon shape (not named as a wagon) as the
main model in its range in some markets.

In France almost all station wagon models are called the BREAK (with
a different spelling from the English shooting brake). French breaks
from
PeugeotPeugeot and
CitroënCitroën were available in seven- or eight-seater
"family" versions long before MPVs became known in Europe. The break
version of the
CitroënCitroën ID , introduced in 1958, was the first
European model to offer the same size, style and luxury as an American
full-size station wagon (prior to this breaks had been basic
semi-commercial vehicles more like the American 'suburban'). The ID
Break (known as the Safari in English-speaking countries) had the same
eight-passenger seating arrangement as many American station wagons
with two front-facing bench seats and two folding inward-facing seats
in the load bed. The 'Familiale' version had a front bench seat, a
forward-facing three-space bench seat in the middle and a folding
forward-facing three-seat bench in the rear, providing a versatile
nine-seater car. The
CitroënCitroën also boasted an American-style two-part
tailgate while its unique hydropneumatic suspension provided both
self-levelling and automatic brake biasing regardless of the load
carried. The car could also 'kneel' to the ground for easy loading of
heavy or large items. The successors to the ID, the CX and XM ,
continued the tradition of offering some of the largest estate cars in
Europe but the XM's replacement, the C6 was only produced as a saloon.
The
PeugeotPeugeot 404 , introduced in 1960, offered a conventional
alternative to the innovative Citroëns for buyers wanting a large
estate car. Its replacement, the 505 was available in both five-seat
and seven-seat 'Familiale' versions. As with the Citroëns, changing
demands in the French car market led to the end of the large Peugeot
estate models in the mid-1990s, with the smaller and less versatile
PeugeotPeugeot 406 becoming the largest estate model in the range from 1995.

VolvoVolvo built a mid-sized station wagons such as the V70 , but this
model was dropped from the company's U.S. lineup for the 2011 model
year.
Nissan Avenir

Japanese manufacturers did not build station wagons in large volume
until recently. Models marketed as passenger station wagons in export
markets were often sold as utilitarian "van" models in the home
market. Some were not updated for consecutive generations in a model's
life in Japan: for example, while a sedan might have a model life of
four years, the wagon served for eight years, such as the 1979 Toyota
Corolla (built until 1987) and the 1987
Mazda Capella (built until
1996). The
Nissan Avenir is an example of a model that began its life
as a utility vehicle and became a passenger car in the 1990s. Toyota
no longer builds a wagon version of the Camry , but has wagon versions
of Corolla or Auris , as well as Avensis . Station wagons remain
popular in Japan with the likes of
SubaruSubaru Levorg and
ToyotaToyota Corolla
Fielder, although they are in slow decline as the SUVs and minivans
have taken over a large portion of this market.

In Australia and New Zealand the most popular station wagons were the
large Ford Falcon and
Holden CommodoreHolden Commodore models, although the Falcon
wagon ceased production in 2010 due to wagons being replaced by SUVs
in the Australian marketplace. The Commodore is slated for
discontinuation in 2017. These are usually built on a longer
wheelbase than their sedan counterparts, though they share the same
door skins, leading to a slightly unusual appearance with the rear
door not reaching all the way to the rear wheel arch. Traditional
station wagons in Australia have seen a major market share decline
since the early 2000s as they are replaced by medium and large SUVs.

Many modern station wagons have an upward-swinging, full-width,
full-height rear door supported on gas springs —often where the rear
window can swing up independently. Historically, wagons have employed
numerous designs:

* SPLIT GATE: The earliest common style was an upward-swinging
window combined with a downward swinging tailgate. Both were manually
operated. This configuration generally prevailed from the earliest
origins of the wagon bodystyle in the 1920s through the 1940s. It
remained in use through 1960 on several models offered by Ford,
including the 1957-58 Del Rio two-door wagon. This style was later
adopted on aftermarket camper shells for pickup trucks , seeing that
pickup trucks already had a bottom half tailgate as an OEM feature.
* RETRACTABLE WINDOW: In the early 1950s, tailgates with
hand-cranked roll-down rear windows began to appear. This was another
innovation first seen on Rambler wagons. Later in the decade,
electric power was applied to the tailgate window—it could be
operated from the driver's seat, as well as by the keyhole in the rear
door. By the early 1960s, this arrangement was common on both
full-size and compact wagons.
* SIDE HINGE: A side hinged tailgate that opened like a door was
offered on three-seat wagons by
American Motors to make it easier for
the back row passengers to enter and exit their rear-facing seats.
This was later supplanted by the dual-hinged tailgate.

* RETRACTABLE ROOF: The
StudebakerStudebaker Wagonaire station wagon had a
unique retractable rear roof section as well as a conventional rear
tailgate which folded down. This allowed it to carry tall objects that
would not fit otherwise. Water leaks, body flex and noise prevented
the innovation from being adopted by other manufacturers. The concept
was reintroduced in 2003 on GMC 's mid-size Envoy XUV SUV .
* DUAL AND TRI-OPERATING GATES: Ford's full-size wagons for 1966
introduced a system marketed as "Magic Doorgate" — a conventional
tailgate with retracting rear glass, where the tailgate could either
fold down or pivot open on a side hinge — with the rear window
retracted in either case. Competitors marketed their versions as a
Drop and Swing or Dual Action Tailgate. For 1969, Ford incorporated a
design that allowed the rear glass to remain up or down when the door
pivoted open on its side hinge, marketing the system, which had been
engineered by
Donald N. Frey as the "Three-Way Magic Doorgate".
Similar configurations became the standard on full-size and
intermediate wagons from GM, Ford, and Chrysler. GM added a notch in
the rear bumper that acted as a step plate; to fill the gap, a small
portion of bumper was attached to the doorgate. When opened as a
swinging door, this part of the bumper moved away, allowing the
depression in the bumper to provide a "step" to ease entry; when the
gate was opened by being lowered or raised to a closed position, the
chrome section remained in place making the bumper "whole".

* CLAMSHELL: Full-size
General MotorsGeneral Motors 1971–1976 wagons — the
ChevroletChevrolet Kingswood, Belair and Caprice Estates ;
Pontiac Safari and
Grand Safari ;
Oldsmobile Custom CruiserOldsmobile Custom Cruiser , and the
BuickBuick Estate models
— featured a 'clamshell' design marketed as the Glide-away tailgate,
also called a "disappearing" tailgate because when open, the tailgate
was completely out of view. On the clamshell design, the rear
power-operated glass slid up into the roof and the lower tailgate
(with either manual or optional power operation), lowered completely
below the load floor. The manual lower tailgate was counterbalanced by
a torque rod similar to the torque rods used in holding a trunk lid
open, requiring a 35 lb push to fully lower the gate. Raising the
manual gate required a 5 lb pull via a handhold integral to the top
edge of the retractable gate. The power operation of both upper glass
and lower tailgate became standard equipment in later model years.
Wagons with the design featured an optional third row of
forward-facing seats accessed by the rear side doors and a folding
second-row seat — and could accommodate a 4 x 8' sheet of plywood
with rear seats folded. The clamshell design required no increased
footprint or operational area to open, allowing a user to stand at the
cargo opening without impediment of a door — for example, in a
closed garage. Subsequent GM full-size wagons reverted to the doorgate
style for its full-size wagons.
* LIFTGATE: A simplified, one-piece liftgate on smaller wagons.
Subsequent generation of GM's full-size wagons returned to the
upward-lifting rear window as had been used in the 1940s.
* SWING-UP WINDOW: An upward-lifting, full-height, full-width rear
door, where the window on the rear door can be opened independently
from the rear door itself. The window is also opened upwards and is
held on gas struts. The
RenaultRenault Laguna II estate featured this
arrangement.
* FOLD-UP LICENSE PLATE: Wagons (including the
VolvoVolvo Amazon wagon,
early models of the Range-Rover, and the
SubaruSubaru Baja ) had an upward
folding hinged plate attached to the lower tailgate of the split rear
door. When the tailgate was folded down, the plate hung down and
remained readable. The wagon versions of the
Citroen DS , variously
called the Break, Familiale or Safari, had a different solution- two
number plates were fitted to the tailgate at right angles to each
other so one would be visible in either position.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Some station wagons are fitted with additional front-facing or
rear-facing seats, along with safety belts, to enable passengers to be
carried safely in the cargo area.

Cargo barriers may be used to prevent unsecured cargo from causing
injuries in the event of sudden deceleration, collision, or a rollover
.

* ^ A B C Hillier, Victor; Coombes, Peter (2004). Hillier\'s
Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology: Volume 1 (5th ed.). Nelson
Thornes. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7487-8082-2 . Retrieved 15 January 2013.
The estate body, also known as station wagons in some countries, has
the roofline extended to the rear of the body to enlarge its internal
capacity. Folding the rear seats down gives a large floor area for the
carriage of luggage or goods. Stronger suspension springs are fitted
at the rear to support the extra load. Hatchback: The hatchback is
generally based on a saloon body but with the boot or trunk area
blended into the centre section of the body. The hatchback is
therefore halfway between a saloon and estate car. This type of body
is very popular due to its versatility and style. Although some
hatchbacks are in fact saloon bodies with the boot or trunk
effectively removed (usually the smaller cars), many hatchbacks retain
the full length of the saloon but the roofline extends down to the
rear of the vehicle. As with the saloon bodies, a hatchback can have
two or four passenger doors, however there is a tendency to refer to
hatchbacks as three or five doors because the rear compartment lid (or
tailgate) is also referred to as a door on the hatchback bodies. As
with the estate, the rear seats fold down to give a flat floor for the
transportation of luggage or other objects. When the tailgate is
closed, the luggage compartment is usually covered with a parcel
shelf.
* ^ "Definition: Station Wagon". American Heritage Dictionary.
Retrieved 13 January 2013.
* ^ A B Hartford, Bill (February 1969). "Sizing up the 1969 Station
Wagons". Popular Mechanics: 106. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
* ^ Street Rodder, 7/94, p.90 caption.
* ^ A B C Jazar, G. Nakhaie (2008). Vehicle Dynamics: Theory and
Application. Springer-Verlag. pp. 30, 1.8.3 Passenger
CarCar Body Styles.
ISBN 978-0-387-74243-4 . Retrieved 23 November 2010. Hatchback:
HatchbackHatchback cars are identified by a rear door including the back
window, that opens to access a storage area that is not separated from
the rest of the passenger compartment. A hatchback may have two or
four doors and two or four seats. They are also called three-door or
five-door cars. A hatchback car is called a liftback when the opening
area is very sloped and is lifted up to open. Station Wagon: A station
wagon or wagon is a car with a full-height body all the way to the
rear; the load carrying space created is accessed via a rear door or
doors.
* ^ A B Erjavec, Jack (2004). Automotive Technology: a Systems
Approach Chapter 4,. Cengage Learning. p. 55, Body Styles. ISBN
978-1-4018-4831-6 . Retrieved 23 November 2010.
LiftbackLiftback or Hatchback:
The distinguishing feature of this vehicle is its luggage compartment,
which is an extension of the passenger compartment. Access to the
luggage compartment is gained through an upward opening hatch-type
door. A car of this design can be a three- or five-door model; the
third or fifth door is the rear hatch. Station Wagon: A station wagon
is characterized by its roof which extends straight back, allowing a
spacious interior luggage compartment in the rear. The rear door,
which can be opened numerous ways depending on the model, provides
access to the luggage compartment. Station wagons come in two and
four-door models and have space for up to nine passengers.
* ^ "
CarCar Design Glossary - Part 2: One-Box (Monospace or
Monovolume)".
CarCar Design News. Retrieved 23 November 2010. A three or
five-door hatchback (no separate trunk compartment) is a 'two-box'
car.
* ^ Mike Mueller (2003). American Cars of the '50s. Crestline
Imprints. ISBN 0-7603-1712-7 .
* ^ Neil, Dan (28 April 2002). "The
HatchbackHatchback Is Back (but Nobody
Uses the H-Word)". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
* ^
G.N. Georgano , G. N. (2002). Cars: Early and Vintage,
1886–1930. Mason Crest. ISBN 978-1-59084-491-5 . Coincidentally,
this benefited furniture makers, who previously had been outbid for
the best wood
* ^ A B C D E
G.N. Georgano , G. N.
* ^ Lamm, Michael; Holls, Dave (1996). A century of automotive
style: 100 years of American car design. Lamm-Morada. p. 29. ISBN
9780932128072 . Retrieved 30 June 2012.
* ^ Mort, Norm (2010). American Woodies 1928-1953. Veloce
Publishing Limited. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-845842-69-7 . Retrieved
2017-05-12.
* ^ Vance, Bill (24 March 2001). "Motoring Memories: The history of
the station wagon". Autos Canada. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
* ^ Cawthon, Bill (15 May 2002). "Jeep: From Station Wagon to
Superstar". Retrieved 15 January 2013.
* ^ Editors of Publications International (13 December 2007).
"1945–1952 Jeep: Willys Postwar Jeep". auto.howstuffworks.com.
Retrieved 15 January 2013. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link )
* ^ "Against the Grain: 21 Woodies That Weren\'t Station Wagons".
CarCar and Driver. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
* ^ Auto Editors of Consumer Guide (9 October 2007). "1950–1959
Ford Country Squire". howstuffworks com. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
* ^ "1955
Ford Country Squire Station Wagon". National Museum of
American History. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
* ^ Litwin, Matthew (September 2009). "
DI-NOC Siding: Restoring a
station wagon\'s woodgrain is now quick and easy". Hemmings. Retrieved
19 June 2017.
* ^ Garrett, Jerry (9 September 2015). "Jeep’s Wagoneer Making
Fake Wood Grain Fashionable Again?". Garrett on the Road. Retrieved 19
June 2017.
* ^ Sean (15 June 2015). "A look back at the 1963 – 1991 Jeep
Wagoneer: A guide to year-to-year changes". Classic Cars Today Online.
Retrieved 19 June 2017.
* ^ A B Collector
CarCar Market Review (1999). "Postwar Station
Wagons: Mom\'s
CarCar Makes a Comeback". VMR International. Retrieved 15
January 2013.
* ^ Schuon, Marshall (21 June 1992). "About Cars; Chewing Over the
Art Of Automotive Design". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 January
2013.
* ^ Vance, Bill (28 July 2006). "Motoring Memories: AMC Rambler
American 1958-1960". Autos Canada. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
* ^ "
AMC PacerAMC Pacer Station Wagon is a Styling Coup!". Popular
Mechanics. 146 (4): 96–178. October 1976. Retrieved 15 January 2013.